tommarker

Well, let's start off with a simple question: What do *you* see in Seisan? I'm not looking for anything profound, just looking for your level of understanding of the form.

You might also get bored to death learning how to fold your hakama, tie your sword bag, etc. I'm only saying there is a commitment to detail present in iaido that is tenfold what you see in even the strictest of karate dojo. Some may see it as wasting time playing around with everthing for ten minutes and then doing 3 seconds of cutting, ten minutes of playing around. etc. Not how I feel..

there is one web site out there with isshin ryu kata, but you have to pay to see their videos.

Just for grins... what do you consider "legitimate"

The nail that sticks out gets hammered down

In our Association, we have a "Cho Dan Bo" which is essentially a "black belt candidate" position. It also starts them as instructors-in-training. I wouldn't call it an "honorary black belt" at all. It's just another rank. It's basically 6-12 months of testing to see if you've got what it takes to be a black belt.

If you go out with plans to get a shodan and develop your own style, you're going to fail. Sorry. If you go out, learn things, live life, experience the arts, learn the arts, and truly master the arts, then at the end you WILL have your own style. Everyone ends up with their own style eventually. It may more or less look like isshin-ryu, but your own perspective and approach will make it your own. It's more than just getting a black belt and going out on your own. Sorry.

good physics = trickery? I can break against the grain. Have done it before. And I can be honest, it was considerably more difficult than with the grain. That doesn't make it impossible. You've set yourself up quite nicely... I couldn't convince you that breaking is beneficial unless I speed break pieces of granite that are thrown in the air, aiming my fist only at the sharpest point of the rock. Just because I set up the break as efficiciently as possible doesn't make it a "trick." Does it make it easier? Well, YEAH. Humans have brains. We should use them. A 10 board break with 1/8" spacers is still *difficult* and is a bit more than a parlor trick. Now there are people out there who will lie about their materials, pre-score the boards, heat the boards in an oven, use balsa, etc and claim that their mastery of karate, alignment of ki, power of Jesus, whatever, will allow them to obliterate this stack of OAK. I think we can all agree that's not right. This is my main problem: you imply that breaking in of itself is fraudulent. It's not. It's just breaking. It can and should stand on its own merits. I grow tired of people who say "oh yeah, let me see you do it against the grain" as if that invalidates what I'm doing. Imagine if we applied that to all other things in life. Run a mile in under 4:00: "Yeah, I'd like to see you do that in combat boots with a pack strapped to your back and bullets whizzing by your head." Swim a mile: "Yeah, I'd like to see you do that upstream against the Rio Grande." Defend yourself with a basic technique: "Yeah, but could you do that against Mike Tyson?" I'm not saying you have to do breaking, or even that you have to LIKE it. Just accept it as a training method and move on.

I did. Back on page one.

Wow. I guess you didn't get the joke. That's ok.. I'll be less subtle next time

Then why let the topic go on for 5 pages? Seriously guys, why can't you actually take part in a DISCUSSION and maybe say.... "I have done breaking, but I don't care for it personally. But lots of people do it, and seem to get something out of it. What could I be missing?" OR "We do a lot of breaking in my school, but a lot of people don't seem to do it. What do they do that is different? Maybe I could try it and see what I think." No, instead we've got people who are just firmly entrenched with the heads, at best, in the sand (on a more liberal board, I'd have no problem suggesting a different location) as to how some other schools or styles, GOD FORBID, do something different that your school, your sensei, etc. No one likes to be told what they are doing is stupid, irrelevant, a waste of time. If that's all you have to add to a conversation, you're clearly not here to discuss. You just want to puff up your chest and show how friggin superior YOUR WAY is. Get over yourselves. Did anyone here actually TRY the suspended paper drill? I did, and it was quite interesting. Ok. Go back to calling each other idiots now. Maybe next we could discuss some other meaningless topic "where the two extreme views will never meet."

So far, I've read very few thoughts on breaking, but I have heard a lot of people re-hash a lot of cliches and propaganda. It's like that "martial arts doublespeak" email "I don't like Breaking/Boards don't hit back." = "I'm not very good at breaking." "Breaking is great and is the end all of training." = "I have a lot of mass and can't do forms very well."

Double for me

i wondered the same thing, actually.

Sometimes people see me practicing and ask "is that tae kwon do?" that's about it

http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/023/eng/ try these...

you don't need BJJ, you've got Berserker!!!

short of some bruising, nothing. but i only break 2-3 times per year at most.

Natural, I'm not trying to sound mean, but you either need: 1. To read more. 2. Have someone really kick the crap out of you and bring you down a notch. You sound scrappy and as if you have a lot of strong emotion that helps you in your training. I like enthusiasm, and you sound a lot like I probably did at your rank. But your world view is, at best, immature. Normal for high school, perhaps, but approaching every confrontation (real or imagined) in your sense will result in someone one day handing you the beating of your lifetime. After resetting your nose, spitting out a few teeth and some blood, you may realize that are more socially acceptable routes to vent your aggression. Like hurling or rugby Trust me.

My advice would be that if find yourself just "going through the motions" then you need to sit down for a minute and think about why you are training. Obviously kihon is not as exciting as kumite... I think that is true in most people's hearts. But you should always have something to strive for when performing kihon. For example, if I only focused on the end result of center punch, I'm only thinking about maybe 5% of the entire technique. Start looking at your transitions from one technique to another, making it more efficient. Maybe you'll notice that your elbow goes too far outward, or that you really could get a lot more driving power of your back leg. Start examining and doing these things, and you will start making major progress. At some point, you will reach a stage where your sensei can only guide you so much. You will need to take steps on your own to further your advancement. Once you've done this, I imagine your sensei will notice the change and start giving you more things to think about. equanimus is dead-on. you are in the brown belt slump. it's a mind shift from "what else can sensei show me?" to taking what sensei has shown you, the tools he/she has given you and making something happen with them. if you don't do this, you will get bored, quit and start doing some other art that looks flashier... until you get bored with that... etc. see where i'm heading?

Would someone please reveal to me the secret identity of the bubble kick? I've only seen this name a couple times, and everytime someone asks for an explanation, the poster never explains

No offense intended, but the odds of getting the "real story" in something this politically charged are slim to none. Regardless of who is guilty or not, it's the students who will suffer the most.

Why not do both? It's not like I'm going to home depot 3 times a week for new lumber

take the . off the end of the link, and it works OK.

bubble kick?